All-Russian Research and Design Institute of Metallurgical Engineering

In the foreseeable future, casting and rolling, both section and strip casting and rolling units will become widespread due to significant technical, economic and environmental advantages. However, despite the domestic priority and a large number of publications on this topic, aggregates for casting and rolling are still rarely used in domestic steelmaking production, as a number of technological and design problems need to be solved for their implementation. This article is devoted to topical issues of various options for combining continuous casting with rolling. Various variants of combination are given: discrete, direct (infinite) and combined. Based on the analysis of foreign and domestic experience in the creation and operation of casting and rolling units, an improved protectable technical solution with advanced technological capabilities has been developed.

Внепечная обработка стали является ключевым звеном современного сталеплавильного производства и позволят одновременно решать проблемы повышения качества стали и эффективности производства. Однако все существующие варианты внепечной обработки характеризуются различными недостатками и нуждаются в усовершенствовании. Вместе с тем, известен вариант внепечного вакуумирования стали с упрощенной бездонной вакуумной камерой, обладающий рядом технологических и конструктивных достоинств. В статье рассмотрены основные параметры данного процесса и предложения по его промышленному применению. Out-furnace vacuum treatment of steel is a key link in modern steelmaking production and will simultaneously solve the problems of improving steel quality and production efficiency. At the same time, there is a variant of secondary evacuation of steel with a simplified bottomless vacuum chamber, which has a number of technological and design advantages. The article discusses the main parameters of this process and proposals for its industrial application.

Secondary furnace processing of steel is a key link in modern steelmaking production and will simultaneously solve the problems of improving steel quality and production efficiency. At the same time, there is a variant of secondary evacuation of steel with a simplified bottomless vacuum chamber, which has a number of technological and design advantages. The article discusses the main parameters of this process and proposals for its industrial application

Gas emissions are produced by each economic entity individually — whether they are a large industrial enterprise, a boiler-house or a household (dwelling house). At that, in addition to visible chimneys there are a lot of hidden (unrecorded) sources of emissions in form of ventilation branch pipes. Communal systems for removal and reprocessing of wastes of two types: liquid (municipal sewage lines) and solid (collection and removal of wastes) are operated in populated localities. For the third type of waste — gaseous — a similarly municipal structure does not exist. For the time being there is no possibility for full system control and neutralization of dust and gas wastes because there is no system in the physical form which would enable comprehensive receipt of exit gases from all the city sources for further processing thereof. It is for the first time when a principally new holistic approach to cleaning/treatment of all city dust and gas emissions (wastes) is proposed which consists in creation of a City Communal Aspiration System (Municipal Aspiration System) containing a city communal aspiration network (gas outlets) for receipt/transportation of exhaust (flue) gases and a plant for utilization of such wastes connected to such network. In other words, it is proposed to organize a “City without Chimneys”. The proposed solution permits to remove mass unsystematic and uncontrolled emissions of environmentally harmful gas wastes in cities, reduce climate risks and make the transition to a new level of organization of environmental planning and management and, therefore, eliminates or principally simplifies many ecological difficulties and restrictions in urban planning (inseparably related to ecology) in sanitary rules and standards.

Horizontal state of mold at continuous casting of steel in horizontal continuous casters (HCC) complicates the melt supply conditions and forming of billets, results in disturbing ofcasting process stability, in forming of zones of chemical and physical inhomogeneity, distortion of the billet geometric form, arising of longitudinal fractures, bleeding at the mold exit. A possibility to increase the quality of the billets, produced at HCCs relates to changing of conditions of the metal solidification, creation of forced melt movement, in particular, by application of electromagnetic field. To increase the casting stability andimprove quality of the billets from alloyed steels a modernization of a HCC accomplished. Within the modernization a system of electromagnetic stirring (EMS) for modernizedmold of the HCC was developed. The modernized mold for horizontal casting is equipped by a build-in two-phased stator of alternative current. The two phased EMS stator built-in into the mold shell, supplied by power from two-phased frequency convertor, developed and manufactured by “Electroprivod i silivaya electronica” LLC (Moscow). A water immersion winding is the main element of the EMS stator. The winding isolation resistance at the first stage of the water immersion stator running was more than 500 m ohm. The technology of the winding manufacturing provides a high coefficient of heat exchange between the copper wires and technical water, usedfor direct cooling. By this, high values of the winding magnetizing force is reached at a small volume that in its turn provides a wide range of stirring intensity control. The developed EMS system enables to decrease considerably the existing drawbacks of HCC.

Plasma-arc heating of periclase-carbonaceous refractory was experimentally tested. A high heating rate of 600°C/h was achieved. The experimental results were used to correct the thermal characteristics of raw refractory and to determine the energy characteristics of the arc discharge. Raw periclase-carbonaceous refractory has high heat conductivity (25 W/(m·K)) and low emissivity (0.3). The radiated power (130 kW) of the discharge is calculated from spectral measurements of an argon plasma arc with a current of 1000 A and an arc voltage of 150 V. The obtained data are used to specify the parameters of the CFD-model of plasma-arc heating of periclase-carbonaceous refractory.

Results are reported from a study of BOF steelmaking at the Cherepovets Metallurgical Combine (CherMK), and the main measures that can make the BOF shop more efficient are described. The measures include improving the logistics of transport operations, the installation of new production equipment, or upgrade of the existing equipment. It is shown that the technical-economic indices of the shop can be improved in a short period of time at minimal cost by adopting a comprehensive approach to modernization of the present facilities.

The dismantling of many thousands of nuclear weapons requires that solutions be found to deal safely with the resulting excess fissionable material.

Abstract To investigate processes of producing high-quality materials using high pressures of gas VNIIMETMASH has developed 3-400 MN hot isostatic presses (HIPes) with working pressure up to 200 MPa and temperature up to 2000°C. Ar and N2 are used as working gases. Frame and vessel units of such machines are of multi-element structure which eliminates the possibility of its fragmentation failure and instant release of compressed gas energy. HIPes are intended for healing defects in casting and compacting metallic, ceramic and composite materials.